Treyarch: Being able to adapt is 'most important' aspect of game dev

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 wont feature a traditional campaign — a first for the series — with developer Treyarch instead choosing to focus on a variety of multiplayer modes, including a last-person-standing battle royale offering.

The move flies in the face of franchise history, but studio co-head Dan Bunting claims developers must be willing to cast off the shackles of conformity and adapt in order to find success.

Speaking to Game Informer during a recent video interview, Bunting states that Black Ops 4 was always envisioned as a “social experience,” adding that it was the studio’s job to justify that decision by finding the fun – even when that meant killing its darlings.

“Everything tends to work together for a reason,” explained Bunting. “Internally, we have built a culture of adaptation. The most important aspect of game development is being able to adapt.

“If you can’t look at something that you’re doing honestly and say, ‘This thing isn’t good enough’ or ‘This isn’t what we want,’ and ‘We need to make a change.’ If you can’t do that yourself, then you’re not adapting. You’re not going to evolve in a way that’s going to constantly deliver exciting experiences for your fans.”

You can find out more about Treyarch’s development process by watching the full Game Informer interview.